Busting my Outback cherry

[freehat]

Outback rules most of you guys suck. Get shrimp on the barbie as an appetizer. 12 or 16 oz. Prime Rib medium rare, with rice on the side and house salad with thousand island dressing.

[JSchnett]

I just went there on friday with some friends. I live in the midwest and I like it quite a bit. We got shrimp and onion for appetizers although i wanted cheese fries and wings. The soup/salad/bread are pretty good. I usally get steak (the center cut filet) or a burger. I don't understand how people can hate outback that much but I'm not an expert on restaurants because I usually stick to chipotle.

[suzzer99]

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The lobster "crabcake" is actually quite good. The outbacker burger is tasty too. I only go there for lunch, so I don't know what to tell you for actual dinner fare.

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Excellent suggestion. As to the poster who said "bleh", you wouldn't be that far off. As to the others who say "go to a real steakhouse", believe me I would but this is a treat to my friend and I already vetoed Red Lobster, so I pretty much had to do Outback.

So I felt like I had to get the Bloomin Onion (although I always call it "Awesome Blossom" for some reason - does Chili's have an Awesome Blossom?). Exactly like I thought, all grease, fairly tasty, but we could only eat 1/3 of it. I think the best thing about this dish--and the reason everyone orders it--is it looks pretty. Bread was quite good. Lobster Crabcake things, very very good, food highlight of the evening.

For entree, I got the Filet coated with blue cheese stuff. Really a pretty good filet, perfect cook and consistency. The blue cheese stuff was a bit much, but if you scrape all of it off I think it adds just the right amount of flavor. Baked potato - ok, standard - but I was stuffed by then.

My friend got the gigantic prime rib, which seemed way too tough for prime rib. Not recommended. Her daughter got the barbie ribs. They looked pretty funny, two petite females with their Fred Flinstone sized portions. She said they were ok, but not as good as Kansas City. But that's an impossible standard no one can live up to. If a Kansas Citian says some other BBQ is ok, then it's probably excellent by anyone else's standards. Sorry BBQ is the one thing KCians have a right to be snobby about. Deal with it.

I've heard a lot about the chocolate thunder from down under, but we were all just way too sweaty, bloated and flatulent from our gigantic portions to think about ordering it.

The other highlight on the evening was the waitress. My friend and her daughter are very polite but can be fairly high maintenance. Our server was perfectly right on top of everything, incredibly friendly, suggested everything at the right time, was never too hovering. As someone who waited tables off and on for 10 years, I was incredibly impressed. Best service I've gotten anywhere in a long time. I gave her $35 on a $97 tab, and told her manager she was excellent on the way out. Someone who's that good at their job, and still friendly is generally the sign of a pretty-well run joint (think of the opposite of PP).

So overall:

Food - 7 out of 10
Service - 10 out of 10
Prices - expected
Atmosphere - eh, who cares?


I can think of about a million other places I'd like to try before I go back, but I won't scream if someone makes me go. I will avoid the awesome onion thing next time. Too much grease.

[NLSoldier]

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I don't understand how people can hate outback that much but I'm not an expert on restaurants because I usually stick to chipotle.


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[RiverTheNuts]

[censored] dont say chipotle again for another month plz... Ive ate 15 in the past 2 weeks

They had a deal where if you bought a 5 dollar gift card from like Feb 1st to Feb 11th you get a free burrito from the 12th to the 14th... so it was basically B1G1

I bought about 7 or 8 gift cards, and ate 6 burritos in 3 days there (lunch and dinner on the 12th, 13th, and 14th)

[SackUp]

I think Outback is solid. Get the Outback special. It is a good value for a steak dinner. Also, their free bread is actually pretty damn good too.

[SmileyPSU]

1)The Outback is the Outback, you will get what you pay for: An ok meal for an ok price. I do not think their steaks are bad. I do not think that their steaks are great. I think their steaks are exactly what you would expect when you pay $15 for a 14 oz. strip.

2)Am I the only person who thinks that OP vetoing Red Lobster is kind of a shadeball move? You wont go there because your date and her daughter take too long to eat? Nice. Why even make the offer if you don't mean it?

How about next time instead of making a patronizing offer to go anywhere that she and her daughter would like, you provide her with a list of restaurants that are on par with your standards and let her choose from those? That way you eliminate the opportunity for her to embarass herself by suggesting a mediocre, reasonably priced institution in lieu of a five star, $100/plate restaurant.

[Dane S]

Steaks aren't very good but not awful. My favorite thing is the ribs. These are quite tasty. They also actually have really good bread and butter, believe it or not.

[suzzer99]

#2 I worked there for 5 years. I'm not paying $100+ and taking her someplace and where I'll be miserable. Sorry. Any other place.

Also I didn't exactly say we can eat anywhere you want. The originally plan was we were going to eat at Rocky Cola, then do anything fun you want, like go to Santa Monica Pier or see a movie. But we were both up for eating somewhere other than Rocky Cola so Red Lobster came up. I vetoed.

Just trust me that I'm not being a prick to my friend ok? I realize maybe it sounded like it in my post, but I was just giving some background w/o the whole story. I could lay out the entire day and our whole 20 year history if I really need to.

[Benholio]

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I could lay out the entire day and our whole 20 year history if I really need to.

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Okay.